yzerman19

i can't get in, its killing me. Never happened before

and you're seeing the pregame? Damn it! I can't get in

what are you going through? Fighting Sioux or something else?

anyone unable to get the webcast up yet?

As a former third liner at Red River, I can appreciate that!!! I am not a Miller fan either, but Forney is not game tested. It is a heartbreaking story about this kid, but clearly he is not showing Hak waht it takes to crack the lineup of a D1 powerhouse/

I really think that we'll see MN at the Ralph for the first round, and one of us will get to go to the F5. that would be the fourth year in a row that either the SIoux or the Ralph have ended MN's season!!!! Based on schedules and games remaining, and what I've seen of teams so far this year, my predictive finish is: 1. Denver 2. CC 3. UND 4. UMD 5. SCSU 6. Michigan Tech 7. Wisconsin 8. MN 9. Mankato 10. AA

Actually the way it is looking now is that the Gophers would be in that play in game, so the X will have the winner of that game playing the Friday night game, so they get about 21 hours rest. To be honest, another few hours makes no difference to these kids.

Forney on the top line? He can't even crack the lineup, let alone skate first line. Supposedly the kid has talent, but he has not earned the right to display it yet. Too many good players in front of him. I have nothing against him, but in all seriousness, he is already a bust. I realize that some of it is due to injury, but he's going to be a junior next year and he'll have like 20 games under his belt. At this point in the season, I do not believe that Forney or Davidson will see any ice from here on out barring injury or suspension.

One of the best Gopher posts I've ever seen on this board. Remember that although the rest of college hockey hates the Gophers, there are only a few teams (UND, BC, and the like) that don't envy the Gophers, and all of us respect the Gophers. I'm quite certain this year is tough to swallow. We're not exactly jumping up and down on the other side of the Red River either. The new reality in NCAA hockey is the top programs that can pick up the Erik Johnson's and Jonathan Toews' of the world are going to have to reload every single year. This gives the teams that maybe aren't picking up the top end guys a great shot at building something over four years. That's what we are seing now. That's why other than the Colorado schools, we are all bunched up. Think about this, 10 teams, 2 are above .500. We just knock each other off. I will never count the Golden Goofers out until I see it. Jeez, they even beat us once when we had the Hrkac Circus.

I knew he played a few games after his senior season; I didn't know he played any before. I guess that's pretty common. The more ice a guy can get...

1. It is a WCHA event, historically sponsored by Red Baron pizza 2. It is the winners of the 5 first round playoff series that follow the regular season 3. The Gophers do not auitomatically get to play. They might adjust the first round matchup to allow the Gophers to play the evening game fro attendence (this is junk) 4. TJ came straight from high school. He did play a couple USHL games following his senior season at Warroad

100% agree with a difference between USHL tough and Canadian Jr tough

As for line combos. I think he might've hit on it this weekend. We lost Friday without the Osh. Even when he's not scoring, the other team has to respect the fact that he is on the ice. I see Vande becoming CHris Porter. He is even almost as good looking Vande with Watkins and Kaip is a very strong second line. They can grind in the corners, they can skate, and they can score (this year) As the season evolves, I like some of the earlier combos too, but I don't see them in practice. Clearly Zajac, Radke and Martens must be doing it in practice to keep logging the ice time. They are not producing in games. Although, Radke's presence on the bench and on the ice has seemed to result in the team playing better hockey. I wonder if Hak has thought about moving him back to his "home" on the point. he would be rusty, probably and would be a liability at this point in the season. Oddly enough, despite scoring some goals this year, Kozek hasn't been given the first line assignment with Osh and Duncs. That might be an interesting change up. Duncan spoke highly to the public about Matt Frattin early on, he could maybe get his crack What if we did: Oshie with Duncan and Kozek Vande with Kaip and Watkins Zajac with Martens and Radke Trupp with Frattin and Malone sorry Miller, you're not doing it Chorney and Bina Finley and Genoway Lapointe and Jones sorry Jake, you log ice next year.

The freshmen are playing like freshmen. Marto is -5 this year. Even though Taylor is having a down year from a specatator's perspective interestingly enough he is Even this year, and even on his career. I for one am much more comfortable with him on the ice than either of the freshmen.

unfortunately our Canadian checkers are giving up goals when they are on the ice. I don't expect them to pump many home, but I also do not expect them to get scored on. They've been scored on. My math is slightly flawed in my earlier post, as surely some of the points scored by both Chorey and Finley are powerplay points.

Finley challenged the whole mN bench at the Ralph. He really wanted to go with Stu Bickel, to the point of asking him if he wanted to do it sans helmet and gloves. Bickel did not see that as an acceptable risk. I would love to let the guys police it themselves a little more. Clearly the officials are not. I'd also love to see some of the high school or NTDP boys drop 'em with a seasoned veteran of the saskatchewan or ALberta leagues...it might be kind of comical.

In conference play, we have 30 goals against (excluding the 4 empty netters). Of which, 9 are pp goals against. So, 21 goals have been scored against us even strength. Considering Chorney is even in +/- and he has 9 assists in league play, that means that at least 9 of those 21 goals have come with Taylor on the ice. More than likely there have been a few times chorns is on the ice for a goal without getting a point as well, so if we just assume that to be the case for two Sioux goals, Taylor Chorney is on the ice playing defense for more than half of the even strength goals we've given up. That is not acceptable for a former captain of team usa and a pre-season all-american. Now Taylor logs a lot of ice time, but I don't believe that he skates half the game during even strength situations. Each D-pairing should theoretically play close to 1/3 of the even strength minutes, give or take a litte. Taylor's minutes obviously go up due to PP and PK time. On the same token, we've scored 45 conference goals, with 9 power play goals. We have not notched an empty netter. Joe Finley is a +16. That means that he has been on the ice for a minimum of 16 of the 36 goals we've scored even strength. If we assume that he has been on the ice for a couple minuses, say 2, then he has been on the ice for half of our even strength goals scored. Who would've thunk it. Taylor giving up more goals per minute of even strength ice time than the other D-men, and Finley being out there for more goals scored per minute of ice time than the other D-men.

Big Joe is by far the most improved defenseman this year. Anyone who says otherwise isn't paying attention. When Big Joe came to GF, he was not good. Now, he is feared. He is holding up his end of the deal. I also would say that ZJones is holding up his end. This team is just getting comfortable. I think the lines will be set after this last win at SCSU, and I predict a strong finish.

Our freshmen D are minus in league play. So are our checkers. That is tough to overcome. I agree that there are situational issues. You are going to have more minuses when you are facing the other teams' top scoring threats, but we need our checkers to play even hockey. They aren't going to score very often, so they need to work hard at keeping the other teams off the board. It doesn't seem to me that Taylor was paired with Robbie all season. Was he, and I just wasn't paying attention? I thought he was playing with Lapointe in the beginning. Watkins is second on the team on shots on goal, that's also an interesting stat.

THe minus half of +/- is an important measure. I don't think minus is a byproduct of opportunity. Rather than +/-, just show me goals against while on the ice. We all know that Osh and Duncs will ahve 40 point seasons, how many goals do they give up when out there? Guys like Jones and Finley aren't going to score, in fact they will most likely look for their partner to move the puck up to transition too, so they aren't going to get assists either. Just show me how many goals they allow per game, that's a stat.

If you take out all the penalties from the end of the Wisco game, we probably aren't that much off the norm for pims per game

He had to pick up groceries and his kids on the way home from practice Maybe he was a walk-on. He only played two years...is it posible this guy was really 32 years old? He's on the 1979 roster as a 31 year old.

I agree that Roe has some sick stick skills. He is definitely one of the shifties tand best stickhandling forwards in the league. He is a baby, and I believe the Motzko's adjective to describe VV is more appropriately aimed at his own little whiner.

Sloppy play in your own zone = Losses. You can not telegraph passes, especially in your own zone. I also noticed the turnovers. I also notice that we don't often break out with speed and authority. it seems more tentative, like we are afraid to get beat one on one (except Osh who goes one on one all the time). Anyway, I saw the sloppy play too. Key areas to get better: Powerplay, puck possession in the defensive zone, and break outs Areas that seem to be clicking: Forecheck, penalty kill, transition through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone Areas hurting us that are not our fault: Refs calling weak penalties. Surviving the opposition powerplay is great, but it wears out your penalty killers for at least one additional shift. That's energy that could be used to generate scoring or to play harder.

I hate the attitude of so many of these players (like Roe) who think they can do or say anything that they want and their buddy or the ref will save them. Case in point the Wisco series how many times was there a 3rd man in? Ridiculous. You want to talk the talk, drop the gloves.